Do fire retardants affect the recovery of the fine fuel of the herbaceous layer of an open savanna? A case study

Wildfires burning large areas represent harm to human health, environment and the economy. Therefore, more efficient fire combat techniques are needed. The fire retardants are chemical products useful to reduce fire intensity helping in fire combat. The objective of this work was to investigate the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cardoso Silva, Henrique, Franco Rosa, Daniela, Barbosa Dantas Junior, Ademar, Musso, Carolina, Ferreira Sanchez, Luiz Gustavo, Henke Oliveira, Carlos, Sinatora Miranda, Heloisa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:Brasil
Institución:Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBIO)
Repositorio:Biodiversidade Brasileira
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.revistaeletronica.icmbio.gov.br:article/1064
Acceso en línea:https://revistaeletronica.icmbio.gov.br/index.php/BioBR/article/view/1064
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:savanna
fuel dynamics
rainy season fire
fire retardants
Descripción
Sumario:Wildfires burning large areas represent harm to human health, environment and the economy. Therefore, more efficient fire combat techniques are needed. The fire retardants are chemical products useful to reduce fire intensity helping in fire combat. The objective of this work was to investigate the recovery of the fine fuel of the herbaceous layer after a fire in areas with the use of fire retardants. The experiment took place in an area of open savanna, 35 km Southeast of Brasília (DF), burned one year before our experiment. In this area, eight plots (10 x 30 m) were selected to apply fire retardants (R). In the first two plots, R1 was applied, in the second two R2, and the remaining plots were used as control (C). The plots were burned independently in September 2018, the onset of the rainy season (53.2 mm before the burn). In each plot, monthly, five samples (0.25 m²) of aboveground biomass were randomly harvested. The fuel was sorted in dicots (D), graminoids (G) and palm leaves (P). The dry mass was estimated after drying (~60ºC) for 48h. Wilcoxon test (p<0.05) was used to compare the recovery of G, D and P biomass between September (before fire) and February for treated and untreated plots separately. Regarding the total biomass (T) in February, a Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare R1, R2 and C for D, G and P. A two-way ANOVA was used to compare T among plots (R1, R2, C) and between September and February. Before the fire, T in C (T=0.33±0.03 kg/m2; G=0.13±0.01 kg/m2; D=0.12±0.04 kg/m2; P=0.07±0.06 kg/m2) was similar to R1 (T=0.53±0.06 kg/m2; G=0.24±0.06 kg/m2; D=0.23±0.05 kg/m2; P=0.06±0.06 kg/m2) and R2 (T=0.17±0.10 kg/m2; G=0.26±0.04 kg/m2; D=0.20±0.07 kg/m2; P=0.06±0.02 kg/m2). In February 2019, there was no significant differences for T, G, D, P with pre-fire values for R1 (T=0.60±0.06 kg/m2; G=0.23±0.02 kg/m2; D=0.30±0.01 kg/m2; P=0.06±0.05 kg/m2) and R2 (T=0.50±0.15 kg/m2; D=0.14±0.02 kg/m2; G=0.32±0.19 kg/m2; P=0.02±0.01 kg/m2), suggesting that R1 and R2 didn't impair the recovery of the fine fuel in the burned plots. (FAPDF/0193.001387/2016; CNPq/442722/2018-4; Comando da Área Alfa (DF) da Marinha do Brasil) >.